My 5-Year-Old Broke His Arm at School – School Ignored My Warning. What Should I Do?

[Hannuda]

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some advice from other parents who may have experienced something similar.

My 5-year-old son is in Reception. At the beginning of June, he had an accident at home and came back to school with his left arm in a cast. I spoke directly with the headteacher and clearly asked that he not take part in any outdoor or physical activity, as I was concerned about the risk of further injury.

Despite that, on 11 June, during class time (not breaktime), he was outside in the play area with his class. He climbed onto a low block and fell, breaking his right arm — with multiple fractures. He was supervised by a teacher, but at the moment of the fall she was speaking to another child and did not see what happened. They claim he had been told not to climb, but honestly, he’s five — when you put kids in front of playground equipment, it’s predictable that they’ll want to use it, especially if they aren’t closely supervised.

What upset me most is that the school did not send me any written report until 21 days after the accident, and only after I repeatedly emailed them. When I finally received the report, it seemed to shift the blame onto my son rather than taking any real responsibility for what happened — even though they had agreed to keep him indoors for his safety.

My son has suffered a lot, physically and emotionally. He missed important football training sessions (he plays for a pre-academy), and it’s been hard for all of us to see him so down. I’m now considering making a formal complaint to the Council and possibly seeking legal advice — but before I take that step, I wanted to ask:

Has anyone experienced something similar with a school? How did you deal with it?

I guess the school can’t keep the entire class inside for 8 weeks just so your son doesn’t go outside. They can’t leave him in the classroom on his own. He maybe can’t be put in other classes due to ratios. They told him not to climb up and at 5yo he’s old enough to understand that. It’s not like they had him playing football or using the gym apparatus. 🤷‍♀️

He got injured on your watch out of school (or the watch of somebody else you trusted to care for him). I'm presuming you accept this was an accident? Why is it the school's fault your child ignored a warning not to climb on something? School staff can't be expected to have eyes in the back of their head, just like you can't. You use 'he's 5' as an excuse for him not listening and following instructions. That may be, but he still chose to do something they told him not to. They can't super glue his bum to a chair and not take their eyes off him.

It's regretful to hear he has suffered two separate bad injuries close together and I sincerely hope he recovers soon. You seem very quick to blame the school though. Accidents happen, especially when children don't follow instructions.

This sounds very stressful for your son & your family

My main concern would be whether he has something underlying which has made him susceptible to fractured bones and would be taking him to the GP/requesting investigations

My dd is medically fragile and had the bad luck to have a serious accident in primary school so we have dealt with this more than our fair share. Whenever a restriction has been warranted, it hasn’t been my opinion, it has come in writing from one of her doctors. The school gets explicit instructions from the doctor on what is necessary to keep dd in education during her medical issue.

sometimes these instructions required staff time during primary school. That is something the school has to manage. It isn’t a parental request though, it’s medical orders and would be a clear violation of her rights to an education to ignore them.

Most of the time all that was needed was to sit her in the back of another classroom and let her read her book. After her accident things were more complex, but we had a meeting with the school and came up with a plan that worked for everyone.

At my school we would do our best to accommodate something like this but it's not always practical , especially in Reception where there is a lot more movement during the day. During free-flow activities time the teacher or TA is likely doing interventions with targeted children and the other adult would be outside supervising. If the adult outside is dealing with a behaviour incident by another child I can well believe she didn't notice your child until it was too late. If I saw your child leaving the classroom I would call him back but if I wasn't looking up at that moment I wouldn't see it. The teacher / TA can't see everyone all the time. Your DS may only be 5 but he needs to know not to go outside unless he has specifically asked an adult (at which point the teacher / TA would have stopped him and redirected him elsewhere).
He had already suffered an injury at home. The same then happened at school. The teacher isn't more to blame than you are for a child being injured in this way whilst in their care, perhaps even less because they have other children to focus on.

Realistically he could have tripped over anything in the classroom and suffered the same injuries. Of course you're upset but school haven't done anything wrong imo.

Climbing on to a low block isn’t really physically activity. He could probably have been kept inside most of the time, if there is a teacher and TA and they free flow. But if it was class time and everyone was outside, how could he stay inside? Accidents happen, the first one at home. Could he have played football with one broken arm? No? Then that’s on you, not the school.

My biggest concern as a parent would be that he’s broken two limbs in a short space of time. Kids generally tend to be quite bouncy IME.

What kind of accident did he suffer at home that his other arm had already ended up in a cast? Apart from sharing other posters' concerns about the ease with which he suffered multiple fractures, if the teacher was taking the class outside for a class activity, who did you think was going to supervise him inside during that time? Given he already had suffered one incident, I would have expected him, even at 5, not to be climbing on anything! Presumably you had told him no outside play, PE, football etc?

I think you would be better off concentrating on his recovery and following up with medical professionals to make sure that there isn't something more serious going on, rather than complaining about the fact that a 5 year old is missing important football training!

The school can't just magic up another person to supervise your child indoors. They're is only so much they can do if he is refusing to follow instruction. The teacher also has another 30 children to look after. How did the initial break happen? If I were you I'd be more concerned about how fragile his bones seem to be.

I agree with PP. My son has a broken arm currently too and honestly it's been a nightmare getting him to be careful and he's a fair bit older than your son. Very unlucky and has to be horrible for your little boy but it doesn't sound like the school have been negligent here. Like others have said, I'd also be chasing up medically why he's having so many breaks.

Really have to agree with every other poster.

I hope you take on board with what everyone is saying.

Keeping indoors by himself is a bonkers request. Unless you had a doctors note specifically saying he must be indoors at all times then school probably thought you just meant no PE/Games. Falling off a small block is an unfortunate accident caused by him not listening to a basic instruction, something a 5YO should be capable of, and it could have happened just as easily in the classroom if he climbed on a chair for example when told not to or tripped over something. It’s not like they had him doing an obstacle course or playing rugby. You couldn’t prevent an accident at home when 1:1 so not sure why you think a teacher with 29 others should do better. You’re being way too harsh on the school.

But do ask about tests in case there’s a medical issue with his bones. Hopefully it’s just awful luck but 2 breaks in such quick succession is unusual. And I hope he’s on the mend soon poor thing.

I'm surprised at the answers, tbh. Do schools not have a medical room with a nurse anymore?

When I was a kid, any children with broken bones or injuries that were susceptible to further injury were kept indoors during playtime and lunch.

But I would definitely talk to his GP about how easily he's broken his arms.

Our DC have fallen from play equipment, slipped off things they're balancing on, fallen rollerskating or off fast scooters etc and never broken a bone. Echoing what others have said - you need to push for this to be investigated. As a freak accident I could see one bad fall causing a break, potentially very very rarely two accidents, but that combined with multiple fractures from a small fall doesn't seem normal.

The teachers probably didn't see any risk as usually a child falling from even climbing frame height is generally fine, a block wouldn't usually be a risk at all.

The staffing levels are such that they can't watch one dc. It must be very upsetting. But agree with others. Why is he getting fractures with minor falls? That's the worry here.

I'm surprised at the answers, tbh. Do schools not have a medical room with a nurse anymore?

Schools can't afford glue sticks and paper of course they don't have medical rooms and school nurses.

I'm surprised at the answers, tbh. Do schools not have a medical room with a nurse anymore?

As if! My kids are late 20s and their school didn't have a nurse. I think schools are lucky to get a nurse visit once in a blue moon for health checks. Kids who are ill usually end up being supervised by the office staff along with everything else they are trying to do.

This! Are you blaming yourself for the first break or is it just the school who is at fault?

They don’t. I do my own first aid at the edge of the classroom while teaching a lesson. This includes treating cuts, administering inhalers and checking bumps. Schools have no money for an onsite nurse.

@Hannuda he would have missed his football training anyway!!! cant go blaming the school. How did the original accident happen? not at school, was it? whose fault was that?

Sometimes it is just bad luck, I broke my foot and ankle getting out of bed and still have no idea how. They did some checks as I broke the other foot and ankle the year before falling down the stairs!
I guess if he landed on his arm that would explain it
worth a check though

Your being unreasonable to ask them not to allow him to do any physical activities. What do you expect them to do? It wouldn't be fair for them to make him stand at the side and watch everyone else play. And they won't have enough staff for one of them to sit with him inside, plus it wouldn't be fair on him. Reception is play and learning. My daughter is outside about 50% of the time and she's in reception. I walk past the school when I drop my son off at nursery so frequently see her outside playing on the outdoor climbing frame.

That seems like a lot of damage for him just falling. Have you asked your GP to check him over?

DC’s (private) school has a nurse/matron. If the kids are on antibiotics or other meds she does these at lunch. Winter time especially I’m told she has a long queue- DD was telling me she was sprinting to be first and not have to wait when she had an ear infection in Jan. Kids with broken arms still go out to play but are told to stay off the climbing equipment. My DS was in the nursery class when he broke his and I presume they kept a closer than usual eye but it was fine. He’d have hated it if he was kept cooped up indoors by himself. I don’t think state schools have had nurses for years though…

If you complain to the LA, what do you want the outcome to be- HT sacked, teacher sacked, governors sacked? Although the latter would be difficult as they’re volunteers.

Five year olds surely play football for fun. He wouldn’t have been playing or training anyway after the first accident.

I agree with posters that it would be wise to get him medically checked.

Pre academy 🙄